The usual flow after spotting something in a dashboard is: switch tabs, open Slack or email, find the right person, copy the context, ask them to do something.

Action blocks remove the tab-switching: the button, the approval, the notification, the workflow trigger lives next to the chart that surfaced the need. Business logic stays in your warehouse; the user gets the tool to act on insight immediately.

Example: A finance team uses action blocks on a budget-variance dashboard. When a regional spend exceeds threshold, the reviewer clicks "request explanation" — the action block writes the flagged line back to Snowflake and notifies the regional owner. No separate ticketing tool, no Slack copy-paste, no spreadsheet hand-off.

Use the Actions feature to add customized interactions and analytical (logic) event-driven functions to your workbook - all without writing any code. And you can create them once and use them throughout your workbook.

Define the action you want to create; it could be to automate visual changes to your data using a filter or to add interactive actions that modify the worksheet with the click of a button. You can do both of those actions by putting them in sequence.

Drag and drop blocks from the catalog to create an action. Each action must have an input (trigger) and an output. Placing a condition between them is not mandatory.

If you have an element on your worksheet, like a button, the link to modify its actions displays in the Object style toolbar as well.

Example: A regional sales dashboard has a row of buttons for "North," "South," "East," "West." Each button uses an Action Block with a Control trigger (button click) and three outcomes: a Filter outcome to filter all charts on the sheet to that region, a Variable outcome to store the user's selection, and a Navigation outcome to take the user to the regional detail sheet. Built once in the Action Editor, the same Action is reused across the workbook.

The Action Editor displays a new layer to create your first Action. The catalog of actions displays on the left. Click the plus (+) icon to add a new action sheet to keep your work tidy.

The Actions sheets given a default number are numbered at the top in the middle; click the three dots to rename the sheet. Just a quick reminder - all your actions can be used throughout your workbook.

Drag and drop blocks from the catalog to create an action.

Tip: Organize your actions on individual sheets so they're always ready to use in a new view.

The example below shows two actions; a Trigger event (Every 120 seconds) and a Filter event.

Tip: You can preview the actions and how they would behave in a published workbook. They run only when viewing a workbook and not while you're editing.

Each action block represents a coding concept, and the whole action is displayed as interlocking blocks.

Each block only fits with the shapes that can create a logical flow. If you try to add a block incompatible with the sequence, the blocks do not connect.

Most blocks include a field or drop-down options where text or parameters are set.

Use the catalog to modify the ones you have or create more.

Tip: Organize your actions on individual pages so they're always ready to use in a new view.

Click on the action block and drag it down to detach it from the blocks.

The fields on an action block can hold text, numbers, boolean conditions, and defined outcomes as part of their sequential flow.

If you have a block that is incomplete or invalid, it displays as red, indicating the action can't be performed.

In this example, the field on the Button trigger action shows 'No buttons' because there is no button on the worksheet for it to reference.

To remove an action block, simply drag it back to the toolbar, or select it and press Delete.

To keep an action block on the side, drag it slightly away from the middle where you're building your action.

When new capabilities are added to the action blocks sometimes it requires the old version of the block to be deprecated, and replaced with the new version of the block.

The blocks below on the left had side have been deprecated as of 14th of February 2024 these will need to be updated to the new blocks below, by April 2024.

Write-back block

Execute SQL block

Get/Set variable blocks

Open report block

The blocks below on the left had side have been deprecated as of 7th of February 2024 (initial release 13th March 2023), these will need to be updated to the new blocks on the right hand side, by April 2024.

What can an Action Block actually do?

Astrato Action Blocks combine three categories of building blocks: triggers (Controls like a button click, or Events like a filter change), optional logic (Conditions and Parameters), and outcomes — what actually happens. The available outcomes are Navigation (move between sheets), Filters (apply or change filters across the workbook), and Variables (set values used by other parts of the workbook). You can chain multiple outcomes in one Action.

Do Action Blocks require code?

No. The Action Editor is drag-and-drop. You compose Actions by selecting blocks from the catalog and connecting them.

Can I reuse an Action across a workbook?

Yes. Actions are defined once at the workbook level and can be invoked from any object — a button on one sheet, a chart interaction on another. Organize related Actions on separate Action sheets (rename via the three-dot menu) to keep them findable.

Where do I start when building an Action?

Open a workbook, add a new workbook layer, click Actions in the left side panel to open the Action Editor. Every Action needs at minimum a trigger (input) and an outcome (output); logic blocks in between are optional.